Archaeology
Skeleton Found Under a Parking Lot May Be English King Richard III
A skeleton consistent with that of the long-dead king was unearthed recently in Leicester
September 13, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Russian Mammoth Discovery May Lead to Furry Clones
Scientists discovered the remains of a woolly mammoth in Yakutia region on Russia’s Arctic coast
September 12, 2012 |
By K. Annabelle Smith
How A Facebook Experiment Increased Real World Election Turnout
On Election Day 2010, a message displayed on Facebook news feeds drove 340,000 Americans to the polls, according to a new study
September 12, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Why Did the Mayan Civilization Collapse? A New Study Points to Deforestation and Climate Change
A severe drought, exacerbated by widespread logging, appears to have triggered the mysterious Mayan demise
August 23, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Yes, We’re Actually Still Looking for the Yeti
Scientists are accepting DNA samples from cryptozoologists who claim to have evidence of the Yeti
August 17, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Archaeologists Excavate Death Pit, Finding Hundreds of Sacrificed Soldiers in Denmark
Archaeologists are excavating hundreds of skeletons from the boggy swamps, and the remains belong to men who all sacrificed around the time of Christ
August 15, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Hot for Hominids – Did Humans Mate With Neanderthals Or Not?
Geneticists are busy figuring out whether humans and Neanderthals got busy
August 15, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Google Earth Probably Didn’t Just Find New Pyramids
Amateur archaeologist claims to have found lost pyramids using Google Earth. Real archaeologists are skeptical
August 14, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Great Wall of China Collapses After Torrential Rains
Flooding fueled by heavy rains brought down a 36 meter long stretch of the Great Wall of China.
August 10, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Archaeologists Discover 1000-Year Old Hyper-Caffeinated Tea in Illinois
Unearthed from a site near modern day St. Louis, Missouri, archaeologists found tea residue in pottery beakers that dates back to as early as 1050 A.D.
August 08, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Is This the Oldest Cave Art on the Planet?
Underneath a massive rock slab which rests on dozens of narrow stilts researchers have found the world's oldest stone axe, and a vast collection of painted artwork.
July 30, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
New Study Suggests Humans, Not Climate, Killed Off Neanderthals
Roughly 40,000 years ago, the Neanderthals that lived in the Mediterranean disappeared. Whether they simply up and left, or died off, is anybody’s guess. They were still a common sight in western Europe for another 10,000 years, so outright extinction is off the table. In trying to understand what lead to the Neanderthal’s decline, archaeologists [...]
July 24, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
The Bra Is 500 Years Older Than We Thought
Victoria has been keeping secrets for a long, long time. Hidden away in an Austrian castle archaeologists uncovered four 600-year old linen bras, a find that shouldn't have been.
July 19, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
In Scotland, Two Mix-and-Match Mummies Contain Parts of Six Corpses
Two 3,000 year old bodies discovered in a Scottish bog turned out not to be two bodies at all. The ancient skeletons are stitched together from the remains of six individuals.
July 10, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Viking’s Most Powerful City Unearthed in Northern Germany
Archaeologists working in northern Germany may have found one of the most important cities in Viking history—Sliasthorp, where once sat the first Scandanavian kings.
July 06, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
World’s Oldest Purse Adorned with Dog Teeth
The world's oldest purse features a decoration that doesn't look so different from modern beading. It's just way more gruesome.
June 29, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
Greek Subway Dig Uncovers Marble Road from Roman Empire
The vast network of roads built by the Romans spanned from England to India and is considered one of the main drivers of the expansive reach of the Empire. Eighteen hundred years later, Greek workers digging a new subway line in the city of Thessaloniki have stumbled across a 230-foot long stretch of a Roman marble [...]
June 27, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
How Easter Island Statues ‘Walked’ To Their Stations
How were those gigantic Easter Island statues—the moai—moved from the quarry to their final stations? One going theory, popularized by Guns, Germs and Steel author Jared Diamond, has it that they were put on wooden sledges and pulled over a system of log rails. But here’s another theory: the statues, ranging from four to 33 [...]
June 21, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
Pirate Vampire Dug Up in Bulgaria
Sorry, Dracula, Bill Compton and Team-Edward. An older vampire is in town, at least in Bulgaria. In the Black Sea town of Sozopol, a 700-year-old skeleton was found with metal stakes where the man’s heart had been, attracting flocks of onlookers to the church graveyard where the remains were discovered. Visitors also crowded to see [...]
June 21, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Things That Humans Did Not Invent (Including Art)
We humans like to think of ourselves as unique creatures that do all sorts of neat tricks other species can’t manage. But Alistair Pike, a British archaeologist, says his new method of dating cave paintings shows that Neanderthals, not humans, could have created some of the earliest art. Granted, it’s just a bunch of red [...]
June 18, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
